Raging Bull Copyright Infringement Case Taken Up By U.s. Supreme Court Officials

The daughter of late screenwriter Frank Petrella is taking her Raging Bull copyright infringement case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Paula Petrella has been locked in a legal dispute with executives at MGM Holdings Inc. since the late 1990s over allegations they illegally based the 1980 Robert De Niro movie on a copyrighted script penned by her father in 1963.

Petrella claims the film bosses have continued to breach her father's copyright by continuing to market the movie for Dvd sales distributed by bosses at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, who have also been named in the suit.

Her arguments have twice been rejected by judges in San Francisco, California, ruling in favour of the studio chiefs, who accused the plaintiff of forfeiting her rights by failing to sue earlier.

However, Petrella petitioned officials at the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case, and on Tuesday (01Oct13), they agreed to take up the dispute.

Frank Petrella died in 1981 - the same year that Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring De Niro as real-life boxer Jake LaMotta, won two Oscars.